MBAs Participate in IFC Consulting Program

Georgetown McDonough students frequently partner with organizations to consult on a business problem and provide recommendations. The results often are shared with senior leadership, but a new program launched this summer with the International Finance Corporation gave students the opportunity to share their research with the entire World Bank.

For six weeks, nine MBA students conducted market intelligence research on focus countries for the IFC’s EDGE Green Buildings Market Transformation Program. Countries of focus were located in various regions, including Latin America, South Asia, and Africa. The IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank and invests in for-profit and commercial projects for poverty reduction and promoting development.

At the end of the program, the students conducted webinars that summarized their research, with World Bank employees from around the world tuning in. In exchange for their work, the students received class credit upon delivering a short report and slide deck summarizing their findings.

Karen Kouagou, an associate director and career coach in the MBA Career Center, believes the program had a positive effect on both the MBA students and the IFC. “The students got a really substantive experience,” Kouagou said, “and the clients got great talent.”

For Albert Cruz (MBA’18), the project connected to values emphasized frequently in the classroom.

“I got to see where global business truly intersects with Jesuit values,” Cruz said. “By democratizing green building markets in the world’s poorest and fastest urbanizing countries, economic value is created for investors, and the most vulnerable communities are affected less from climate change.”

This is not the first time that Georgetown McDonough has collaborated with the IFC. In the past, MBA students have conducted research for the IFC under independent study programs, with topics including higher education in developing nations, the interdependence of global trade in products and services, and the Maldives Entrepreneurship and Jobs Project.